As the music scene continues to rapidly change—mostly with closing venues—The Regent Theater in Downtown LA is picking up the slack with a new option for live music.
After two years of renovations, the 1,100-capacity venue made its debut in November with the Downtown Festival Los Angeles. It will continue to host a full schedule of concerts under a partnership with promoters Spaceland Presents, Knitting Factory Entertainment and Artists & Recreation.
“We’ve chosen this specific theater site because of its architecture, incredible sight lines, great location in the Historic Bank Building District, and because my mom says my vaudevillian grandfather once performed there,” said Mitchell Frank of Spaceland Presents.
Early highlights on the Regent concert schedule include performances by FKA Twigs, Cold War Kids, Jose Gonzalez and many more.
The Regent is housed in a 100-year-old building that served as a movie theater until business turned south and became an adult movie house for several years until its closure in 2000.
In addition to the music venue, the building now hosts Prufrock Pizzeria, serving wood fired pizza, and The Lovesong, a hipster cocktail bar. Both function separately from the music venue and can be visited out without purchasing a ticket to a show.
Upon entering the space, patrons are greeted by a hallway lined with tables and stools. Prufrock sits to the left and the cocktail bar occupies the right side. Those who choose Prufrock Pizzeria will find fresh, authentically Italian pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven with an open kitchen for all to see. Seating is limited, but slices can be enjoyed throughout the venue.
The Lovesong is a dimly lit bar with antlers on the wall, black and white photos, and an old, dusty piano from the venue’s glory day in the early 1910’s. There is ample seating at the bar and tables lined with cushioned seats against the wall. For being touted as a cocktail bar, the cocktail menu is limited and features only five basic drinks, including an old fashioned and a Moscow mule, but a full wall of liquor also allows visitors to call the shots. It seemed the bartenders were still working out some rough edges with the menu on our first visit, but that’s likely to improve.
Once through the doors of the theater, chairs and tables are located to the left and there’s a bar to the right. For those who want to be closer to the action, a set of steps leads downto the pit, which features a sloped floor designed so every patron can have a great view. For those who don’t want to be close to the action, there’s a roomy mezzanine.
The venue is very similar to other upgraded LA music venues from the same era, such as The Fonda Theatre and The Mayan. Stylistically the Regent features a very large stage with a lighted archway around it, vintage inspired decor, and eco-friendly lighting. The sound system was designed by JBL, the first of it’s kind in the west coast.
